1. Leucine Aminopeptidase in Eggs of the Soybean Cyst Nematode Heterodera glycines
P M Tefft, L W Bone J Nematol. 1985 Jul;17(3):270-4.
Supernatant from a sonicated macerate of eggs of Heterodera glycines hydrolyzed L-leucine beta-naphthylamide and L-leucine 7-amido-4-methylcoumarin. Rate of substrate hydrolysis was influenced by pH and increased with the duration of incubation. A Michaelis-Menten constant of 0.15 mM was obtained. Rate of substrate hydrolysis was decreased by freezing egg supernatant for 26 days or heating above 60 C for 5 minutes. When egg supernatant was incubated with six different substrates, L-leucine beta-naphthylamide was hydrolyzed most readily and L-valine beta-naphthylamide the least readily. The rate of substrate hydrolysis by egg supernatant was not increased by pretreatment of eggs with 3 mM zinc chloride for up to 14 days.
2. Atypical caseinolytic protease homolog from Plasmodium falciparum possesses unusual substrate preference and a functional nuclear localization signal
Wenjie Lin, Maurice Chan, Tiow-Suan Sim Parasitol Res. 2009 Nov;105(6):1715-22. doi: 10.1007/s00436-009-1612-9. Epub 2009 Sep 30.
Although ATP-dependent caseinolytic protease (Clp) complexes are important for regulating the pathogenicity, survival, and development of many pathogens, their physiological roles in the pathogenicity of malarial parasites remain unknown. This study reports the cloning, authentication, and characterization of a putative Clp protease subunit from Plasmodium falciparum (PfClpP). Heterologous expression studies showed that signal peptide hindered the soluble expression of the full-length PfClpP. Biochemical analyses of the recombinant PfClpP showed that it did not cleave the known ClpP substrate, succinyl-leucine-tyrosine-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin hydrochloride (AMC). Instead, PfClpP readily hydrolyzed a different substrate, glycine-arginine-AMC. The distinctive substrate preference of PfClpP suggests structural uniqueness in its substrate-binding sites that might be exploitable in anti-malarial drug development. Whether PfClpP resembles most eukaryotic ClpPs in being localized to the mitochondria and chloroplasts was also investigated using a mammalian surrogate host system. The results observed showed that green-fluorescence protein tagged PfClpP proteins were localized to the nucleus. PfClpP may have a unique and specialized role in the plasmodial nucleus. Taken together, this study has shown that PfClpP has a unique peptide cleavage function that is localized at the plasmodial nucleus, probably positioned to elicit a regulatory role in the parasite's pathogenicity.
3. Slow-binding inhibition of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase by gamma-boroGlu
R L Stein, C DeCicco, D Nelson, B Thomas Biochemistry. 2001 May 15;40(19):5804-11. doi: 10.1021/bi010147i.
gamma-Glutamyl transpeptidase (gammaGTase) catalyzes the transfer of the gamma-glutamyl moiety of gamma-glutamyl-derived peptides, such as glutathione (gammaGlu-Cys-Gly), and anilides, such as gamma-glutamyl-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin (gammaGlu-AMC), to acceptor molecules, including water and various dipeptides. These acyl-transfer reactions all occur through a common acyl-enzyme intermediate formed from attack of an active site hydroxyl on the gamma-carbonyl carbon of gammaGlu-X with displacement of X. In this paper, we report that gammaGTase is potently inhibited by the gamma-boronic acid analogue of L-glutamic acid, 3-amino-3-carboxypropaneboronic acid (gamma-boroGlu). We propose that gamma-boroGlu adds to the active site hydroxyl of gammaGTase to form a covalent, tetrahedral adduct that resembles tetrahedral transition states and intermediates that occur along the reaction pathway for gammaGTase-catalyzed reactions. Our studies demonstrate that gamma-boroGlu is a competitive inhibitor of the gammaGTase-catalyzed hydrolysis of gammaGlu-AMC with a K(i) value of 35 nM. Kinetics of inhibition studies allow us to estimate the following values: k(on) = 400 mM(-1) s(-1) and k(off) = 0.02 s(-1). We also found that gamma-boroGlu is an uncompetitive inhibitor of Gly-Gly-promoted transamidation of gammaGlu-AMC. This observation is consistent with the kinetic mechanism we determined for gammaGTase-catalyzed transamidation of gammaGlu-AMC by Gly-Gly to form gammaGlu-Gly-Gly. To probe rate-limiting transition states for gammaGTase catalysis and inhibition, we determined solvent deuterium isotope effects. Solvent isotope effects on k(c)/K(m) for hydrolysis of gammaGlu-AMC and k(on) for inhibition by gamma-boroGlu are identical and equal unity, suggesting that the processes governed by these rate constants are both rate-limited by a step that is insensitive to solvent deuterium such as a conformational fluctuation of the initially formed E-S or E-I complex. In contrast, the solvent isotope effect on k(c) is 2.4. k(c) is rate-limited by hydrolysis of the acyl-enzyme intermediate that is formed during reaction of gammaGTase with gammaGlu-AMC. Thus, the magnitude of this isotope effect suggests the formation of a catalytically important protonic bridge in the rate-limiting transition state for deacylation.
